Kabul corrupt, Schilling for AT&T, Cheaters prosper in D.C.,

Corrupt to the core

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S.-donated medicines and pharmaceutical supplies meant to keep the new Afghan army and police healthy have been disappearing before reaching Afghan military hospitals and clinics, and the government said it is removing the army's top medical officer from his post as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.
Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press that Surgeon General Ahmad Zia Yaftali was being removed from his post as part of the inquiry. Three officials from the country's top medical facility, Dawood National Military Hospital in Kabul, have been fired, he said.

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So much for net neutrality--Obama caves to AT&T/Verizon on wireless when he had majority votes

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators adopted new rules Tuesday to keep the companies that control the Internet's pipelines from restricting what their customers do online or blocking competing services, including online calling applications and Web video.
The new rules have the backing of the White House
Critics were disappointed that the new regulations don't do enough to safeguard the fastest-growing way that people access the Internet today — through wireless devices like smart phones and tablets.

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No safe haven for whistleblowers and never has been

WASHINGTON – House Democrats scrambled on Tuesday to salvage legislation that would bar federal agencies from punishing employees who report corruption, waste and mismanagement after Republicans linked the bill to the WikiLeaks scandal.
In a Dec. 16 letter to Issa, a coalition of public interest groups urged Issa to back the new bill, saying "efforts to draw a connection between WikiLeaks and this good government measure are misguided."
On Monday, one of the coalition members, the Project on Government Oversight, was more critical of Issa.
"We are disappointed that Mr. Issa has flip-flopped on the bill he used to support and instead is perpetuating the myth that this bill would protect WikiLeaks," the Project said in a statement posted on its Web site.

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Stalin’s security system would have envied all the spy technology focused on Americans by AMERICA

The 5 most surprising revelations from the Post’s ‘Monitoring America’ investigation
By Liz Goodwin
The FBI is assembling a massive database on tens of thousands of Americans who have not been accused of any crime. The names on the fed watchlist have attracted the suspicions of local law enforcement or citizens, The Washington Post's Dana Priest and William Arkin report. The reporters' latest look at the country's ballooning national security system focuses on the role local agencies-- often staffed by people with little to no counter-terror training--have played in combating terrorism since 2001.

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